The Hunter's moon rises after sunset, giving him more light to search for his prey. Regina had ordered him to kill and bring her the pelt of a ferocious wolf that has been terrorising villages in the Enchanted Forest. He had complied but not before pleading with the Queen to reconsider but he knew it was useless. She could have got any of her other knights to track and kill the wolf, she could have even done it herself. No, she wanted him to do the deed as a test. To kill a wolf would break his heart and that is the very reason why she picked him. If he feels remorse or grief then she truly does not have his heart but if he brings back the pelt then she will be satisfied that he is wholly hers.

So with a numb sense of obedience Graham walks quietly though the forest, the special arrows the Regina had given him ready to draw and release. The silver tipped arrows are enchanted to find its target no matter the distance or obstacle in the way. Why she gave him the arrows when he never misses his prey he can not say but he carries them without question. The only doubt, and hope, is if he will be able to release the arrow when he finds the wolf. From the reports it is a wolf without a pack, an omega, and for the last few weeks has been taking livestock from farms. It is reported to be huge and violent but he doubts the last claim. If it is too dangerous to live why haven't there been accounts of human fatality? This question flees when he spots a farm through the trees and knows that he is at the right place. The wolf has been steadily targeting farmsteads along the edge of the forest and if he is right this one is next.

As the moon rises higher he settles down against a tree with a high vantage point and watches quietly as the light around him diminishes until he sits in bright moonlight. The lights in the farmhouse wink out as the inhabitants go to sleep and he shifts once, the first movement he has made in hours. Through the trees to his right a white shape moves and his hand reaches quickly into his quiver. But as the wolf's eyes shine in the dark he hesitates. He knows this animal, the white wolf had been his friend. Once he had avoided human company save for wolves and now even that is denied him.

With a muffled pang he watches the wolf slink towards a pig pen and the animals within begin to squeal, sensing that a predator is approaching. He stands, cocks an arrow and draws back the string. The silver arrow head glints in the moonlight and in the distance the wolf is a white streak in the dark. As the pigs begin to shriek lights in the farmhouse appear and he knows that he must fire before they confront the wolf. He knows this wolf, knows that it will fight to keep its prey. That was his fault and as he watches he realises it always has been. Wolves avoid humans and their settlements and hunt in the forests instead but the white wolf had been around him too much and became fearless. But he is not tame.

As the door to the house opens and a farmer appears with a flaming torch the huntsman draws back the bowstring as the wolf turns on the farmer. Whether he would have released it and killed his friend, thus proving that his heart is utterly the Queens he never finds out for in that moment another wolf appears. Graham sees in an instant he has been tracking the wrong animal.

The wolf is gigantic, its fur a dark brown and its gold eyes shine like embers in the dark. As it moves between the white wolf and the farmer he is too shocked to move. The farmer is similarly frozen and his torch flickers in the dark, casting light on the snarling white wolf. It is about to spring at the farmer but the bigger wolf snaps at it and immediately the smaller wolf lies down and shows its throat. A sign of submission.

The dark wolf approaches the farmer slowly, almost curiously and the farmer seems to come to his senses. With a small shriek he drops his torch and flees back into the farmhouse. Graham watches the white wolf stand up and run back into the forest with his tail tucked between his legs as the other wolf approaches the pig pen. The wolf will kill everything in sight. With a silent plea of forgiveness he loosens the arrow and in that instant the wolf looks right at him. The look in her gold eyes are like nothing he has ever seen and he suddenly wishes that he could call back the arrow. The look is far too knowing, far too surprised to be wholly beast. The wolf turns quickly, about to ran but the arrow strikes and the wolf yelps in pain but does not fall. Instead she runs into the forest, away from him.

He lowers the bow, knowing that he should give chase but he can not. He would rather die then skin that creature and in so deciding he knows that the Queen does not completely rule his heart.

He did not head back to the palace but instead stayed in the forest for the night. Setting up a camp fire he ate little and slept fitfully, his dreams filled with the never ending dying throws of the wolf. He wakes hours later, the forest still dark but dawn would be approaching soon. He rises and stares down the path that will take him back to the palace and the Queen. He could have gone back last night but the wolf he had hit stopped him. He has known since he was a child that any creature in pain should have its life ended swiftly if there is no hope for recovery. If this had been before Regina took his heart he would not have tarried and followed the wolf but now he has to fight to care.

Whatever compassion he has left wins out and with grim look back at the path he heads past the farm and in the direction the wolf had run. As he makes his way through the trees, hearing and vision alert for any signs of the wolf, he realises that he is not alone. Following at a distance is the other wolf, a white shadow that follows him everywhere. He and the wolf had been companions for years but he had been forced to abandon him when he became a knight. That had been months ago but the wolf had not left to find a pack. The huntsman is surprised he's still alive; solitary wolves don't last long. He turns and addresses the animal which stops.

"You're lucky you're not dead. You know better then to attack settlements."

The wolf, one black eye, one red, looks aside and then walks past him, so close that his fur brushes against his leg. He watches as the wolf sniffs and then darts further along the path and Graham smiles. It's just like old times. As the sun rises and the man follows the wolf the path becomes overgrown and the trees denser. As birds sing above his head sweetly he spots drops of blood on the ground and bends down to touch it. It's still warm. The dark wolf is close.

"Where is she?" He asks and the white wolf cocks his head.

The sun burns away most of the mist but this deep in the forest it lingers and swirls around his knees. In the distance he can make out ghostly trees. Because of the fog he does not see the figure lying on the ground but the white wolf runs directly to it and begins circling before sitting. Graham narrows his eyes, trying to see if it is the dark wolf and as he approaches he sees with a swoop of surprise that he hasn't been lead to the wolf but a woman.

"Miss? Are you all right?" He drops to his knees and touches one bare shoulder and turns her gently. She rolls onto her back and he averts his eyes. She is half naked, her breasts visible. It looks like she tried to dress herself but passed out before she could finish. He lowers his face to her mouth and her breath blows gently against his cheek. She is alive but only just. The blood that covers her hip and leg makes him look again while he pulls her clock over her chest. She has her hand pressed against the wound and he moves it away gently to look. His eyebrows climb when he realises that she has been hit with an arrow. She must have pulled it out. He looks suddenly up at the white wolf and then back down at the girl before shaking his head.

"Just a coincidence…" He picks up a shift lying next to her and presses it against the wound and the girl jerks awake. Blue eyes pin on him, sharp and alert before they cloud over with pain.

"My…my cloak," she whispers and he nods.

"Yes, it's covering you."

The girl shakes her head slowly, "No, the red — red one." She lifts a hand at the trees and he turns to see water rippling through them and to the left a cottage. The girl's arm falls back as she faints. The white wolf bends down to sniff her and then licks her shoulder before running though the trees towards the lake. The huntsman flicks his eyes back to the girl below him with a frown before gathering her up in his arms and stands. Making sure that she is decent he carries her back to the cottage that she must live in.

As he settles her down onto her bed he looks around and summarises that she must live alone. He looks back at her, every second forming new questions and stares around for something to bandage her leg with. He has a poultice she can apply to ward off infection and is just about to remove the cloak when she wakes suddenly. She takes one look at him before she peddles back in terror and he moves away swiftly, showing the girl his hands.

"You! It's you," she says through gritted teeth and he nods.

"I found you in the forest, remember?"

"No," she shouts and two spots of red appear on her pale cheeks. "You hit me!"

He blinks at her before looking at the wound in her thigh. It was from an arrow head. He had seen no arrow where she lay so he could not say if he had hit her by accident.

"I hit a wolf."

"Yes, you hit a wolf," she says, panting and sweat begins to drip down her face. She is in a great deal of pain. Graham shakes his head in confusion.

"Look I don't know what you think happened but I hit an animal, not a girl."

Blue eyes bright with pain regard him carefully before looking at her injured leg. She nods. "I am a girl…thank you for bringing me back, I appreciate it."

"You're welcome…" He stands there, not knowing what to say, do or think. Dark hair hides her face as she inspects the wound and blood drips onto the cover below her. The huntsman moves over to her and offers the poultice and she takes it from him gingerly, avoiding eye contact. She is pale and sick from pain and blood loss but he had seen from the first glance how beautiful she is.

"Thank you, I — I can take care of the rest myself," she says curtly and picks up a bodice and looks at him pointedly.

"Of course, I'll go…" He turns and moves to the open door but can not make himself leave. He looks back after a minute and sees her pulling down the bloody slip over her stomach and hips. She wipes the blood away and then inhales deeply before pinching two fingertips against the opening of the wound and with a scream that goes through him like a knife she removes a fragment of metal from her leg. She slumps against the headboard, panting and half conscious. He swears, comes forward and hurriedly presses a cloth against the pouring blood.

"Oh that hurt," she mutters with a weak smile.

"Are you insane? A physician should have done that. I could have fetched one."

"By the time you came back with one I would have been dead," she says calmly and he frowns.

"The wound was not that deep and there's no infection."

"It's not the wound I would have died from," she presses the splinter of metal into his hand and he looks down. It is silver. He stares at it as if he can't quite believe what he is seeing. Slowly he looks up at her and she smiles at him, delirious from the pain. She rises and he grabs hold of her arm quickly. He stares into her eyes in disbelief.

"I hit you last night? You?"

"I was…I was trying to stop my friend from killing," she says tiredly, swaying and he lowers her back down onto the bed. Her eyelids flutter closed but before she falls asleep she whispers something to him, clutching his arm hard. "Don't tell…promise?"

"I — I promise," he says and she slumps into unconsciousness from the pain.

He should be back at the palace but he can not leave. She sleeps for hours and little by little her face grows rosy. He had tended to her wound while she slept and he checks on it now. On his knees he shakes his head in wonder. The wound is growing smaller.

"I don't know what you are but I would like whatever makes you heal so fast."

"You wouldn't," she says softly and he looks up. Her eyes are open and while they look tired she appears lucid. He helps her sit up and remains staring at her on his knees. She regards him carefully, almost suspiciously.

"What's your name?" she asks.

"Most people call me the huntsman but it's Graham. What's yours?"

"…Red. You're one of the Queen's knights?" She eyes his armour, half of which has ended up on the cottage floor. Even after all this time he does not wear it well.

"I'm her official huntsman," he says and she looks away with a frown. At the open door the white wolf sleeps, blocking the threshold. She smiles, seeming to take heart from the sight, and then looks back at him.

"You didn't have to stay, I'm fine now," she is eager for him to leave. Not that he can blame her, he did shoot her.

"I mean you no harm."

"Not like this, you just kill wolves," she responds flatly and he bristles.

"If I had a choice in the matter I'd see all wolves protected."

She snorts and looks away and he has to stop himself from losing control. Instead he inhales deeply and she looks back at him. "Then what happened last night?"

"The Queen ordered me to track and kill a wolf that had been killing livestock and frightening villagers. Whatever she commands I must do."

Red eyes him sceptically, "Well if that was true I'd be hanging up on a wall by now…" Graham smiles and she blinks in confusion. "What? Did I say something funny?"

"No, I'm relieved that I still have some control over my life." He lets his smile fade and gazes at her intently, making her blush and looks away. "Sorry I just can't get my head around it."

"Around what?"

"You can turn into a wolf. I have heard of the tales of course, heard about them my whole life, but I've never actually met someone who was one."

Red shifts uncomfortably, avoiding his gaze and shrugs, "Maybe you still haven't. I was in a lot of pain and talking nonsense. Just forget it."

"You're still frightened of me. I swear to you I will not hurt you," for the first time in months he feels something other then the dull and numb servitude that had filled him. He feels excited and intrigued by the girl who right now would like him as far away as possible.

"It's you who should be frightened of me," she says quietly and pain wells up in her eyes. Graham shakes his head.

"I do not fear you, no more then I fear him," he jerks his head to the white wolf who lifts his head. He whistles sharply and the wolf gets up and goes to him. Red watches in guarded wonder as Graham scratches the wolf under the chin and he smiles at her. Slowly, tentatively, she smiles back.

"You won't capture me?"

"Never."

"You — you're really not scared of me?" she stares at him in confusion and Graham tells her about his childhood and what lead him to becoming one of the Queen's knights. Red listens attentively, stopping him only to ask questions or offer sympathy. But when it comes to the part about the Queen taking his heart he falters and could not tell her the truth.

"If she finds out that the wolf is a shifter she will have these woods scourged to find you."

Red shakes her head, her expression a mixture of sadness and anger. "I know that I am dangerous and I should live in isolation to protect people but I'm tired of moving. When they find out what I am they drive me out, try to kill me…" she looks down, her chin wobbling.

"I won't tell anyone and I won't hunt you." He gets up and stretches while she reaches over to play with the wolf's ears. He looks between them and cocks his head. "What were you doing there last night?"

"Our friend here, for some reason, finds it hard to hunt. When I found him he was half starved. He would go to people's homes and steal food before moving onto eating pets and cattle instead of hunting in the wild. I've been shadowing him, making sure he behaves himself."

"It's my fault. I used to catch us both food and his instinct to hunt for food lessened. When I moved to the palace he had to fend for himself. Sorry Shadow," he says and the wolf looks up at him, tail swishing back and forth against the floor. Red smiles at him.

"You caught me by surprise," she says with a flare of good humour, "I've been hunted before but I've always been able to out run them."

"Well you've never had to deal with me before," he says arrogantly and then flashes a grin. He looks at the empty fire place and then back at her. "Will you be able to start a fire?"

"In a few hours, I should be healed enough by then," she swings her legs around and settle her feet on the floor. Graham offers his hands and after a moments hesitation she places her hands in his. Teeth clenched and white faced she gets to her feet. She holds her left foot off the floor and with Graham's help moves over to a rocker by the fireplace. She sits, breathing hard and stares up at his guilty looking face.

"I'm sorry you're in this pain. I shouldn't have waited to find you."

"You could have just left me and never returned. Or killed me…so thank you," she slips her hands away from his and settles them in her lap. Graham stands awkwardly, not knowing if he should stay but wanting to.

"I should go," he says and she looks up at him quickly. She nods in understanding but he couldn't ignore the flash of distress in her eyes. Or how lonely she seems. He rubs his hand through his hair, "Do you live here alone?"

"Yes. My granny visits every week when she can but I try to avoid people."

Graham narrows his eyes in thought. "But you only need to be away from people for three days. You don't have to cut yourself off completely. Why are you?" he asks gently but Red shakes her head and averts her eyes, giving him no answer. "How old are you?" he asks suddenly.

"Twenty one. How old are you?" she responds with a smile.

"Twenty five."

"And you spent most of your life living with wolves? Longer then I have…" she looks at the empty grate, loosing focus and Graham takes the opportunity to gather some wood and stack in it the hearth. When the flames appear she blinks and looks up at him.

"I really should go now otherwise the Queen will think I've tried to escape. Again." He inclines his head in farewell and is about to step back when she reaches forward and grabs his hand.

"I shouldn't ask, I know I shouldn't but do you think you could come back?"

"You want me to? I almost killed you."

"And there's a risk that I could do the same to you. It's just that you're the first person, beside Granny and my friend, who doesn't fear me." Her eyes gleam with tormented hope and longing and while his heart does not break he does feel something, a numb ache of pity. He knows that sense of loneliness and the need to fill it.

"I'll come back in three days time. I don't want to draw attention to this place so I can't come everyday."

"I know you've got your own life. Thank you Graham," she says happily and gets to her feet and limps with him over to the door. She leans against it as he walks out of the cottage and turns to her. She is bedraggled, her hair wild and her skin pallid but in that moment he is struck by how beautiful she is. Like the dull ache he felt before this emotion spreads through him warmly. Red waves at him, smiling shyly and watches him leave, the white wolf by his side.

a.n:

so I know there are like three other people who ship these two lol. Once we found out she was a wolf and his whole wolf upbringing and affinity they just seemed perfect. Lupine Lovers ;)

If I continue the story it should cover their growing relationship in FTL before moving onto the second half set in Storybrooke. If anyone is interested in more please let me know :)